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This photo is taken with a petzval lens which corrects all aberrations decently except for, well, petzval aka field curvature. Because the edges are in focus at a further distance, the blur is smaller there. Because the lens is fairly highly vignetted, the lens also effectively has a larger f number towards the edges, again reducing the blur. The result ...

This is the first, "zebra" version, optically the same design as Pancolar 2.0/50. The aperture control switch ("tumbler") should have 2 positions, "A" is counter-clockwise when looking at the front element, "M" is clockwise when looking at the front element - not 3 positions. The rear part of the lens should have an actuator pin that, when pressed, makes the ...

You will need a memory card — and to just get started, that's basically it.
Sometimes a memory card is included in a camera store bundle, but such bundles are usually a bad deal (see Does it make sense getting any of these "extra" lens packages?). As far as I know, a memory card is never included with an interchangeable lens camera or official ...

As with any blanket statement, it's not true in every case that primes will give consistent sharpness across the field and zoom lenses won't. To take one specific example, the Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II has much worse performance in the corners than the centre at f/2.8, whereas the Canon EF 24-70 f/2.8L II USM is pretty consistent across the frame at 50mm, ...

Canon manufactures no lenses in the USA. The "US" versions of each Canon lens model are made in the same plant that all of the rest of that same lens model is produced and are physically identical within a particular production run. To the best of my knowledge, all Canon EOS lenses have the country where they are assembled printed on either the front or rear ...

This is a swirl-y bokeh, an often desirable flaw commonly found in some vintage lenses and lenses. There are some lenses known for this this characteristic, most notably the soviet made Zenit Helios 40-2 85mm F1.5 which is still being manufactured. You can find this lens on ebay for ~$600. If you are adventures enough you can convert the Cyclop night vision ...

I've been shooting high school bands for near a decade now. Your question as asked is hard to answer because there are too many variables you have left out.
What type of photos are you after? Wide angle shots with a large portion of the band or closeups of individual members?
What will your shooting position be? In the stands (how big is the stadium and ...

The image brightness will be the same. The entrance pupil size does not matter for image brightness - what matters is only the F number (or more accurately, T number which is equal to the true f number divided by the square root of the transmission.)
In a bit more detail:
If you fix your field of view at 100deg and vary the sensor size, the focal length ...

I think you've got a Minolta A-mount lens. Compare to this photo (image borrowed from here):
Minolta and Konica merged at some point and were subsequently acquired by Sony, and this mount is apparently still used by Sony as the "Alpha mount system".

Yes. Stop shopping; start shooting.
The lenses you have are what most folks would already choose for landscapes, cityscapes, and street shooting.
If you don't know what lens you should "upgrade" to, then chances are good, you're not ready to upgrade. You need more experience with the gear you do have. And it's when a specific frustration starts to eat ...

The single best thing you can get after a body, lens and cards is a nice bag. The best camera in the world is no use to anyone on a shelf at home.
Steer clear of any that come free with the camera, they're universally ugly and poorly made.
Go to some shops and have a play with what's there. Bags are quite a personal item, but you're looking for something ...

When a macro lens has a reproduction ratio of 1:1 an object with a given size will be reproduced at the image plane at the same size. This is irrespective of the focal length. The only difference is that a longer focal length will afford you the ability to achieve that reproduction ratio at a greater distance than the shorter focal length.
The precise ...

There are indeed "superzoom" lenses that can cover from wide to telephoto focal lengths, much the way that a bridge camera's lens can. However, there are tradeoffs.
Getting an 18-200 or 18-300 superzoom lens is generally not going to increase image quality over an 18-55/55-300 or 55-200 "twin kit", and is probably going to cost you about twice as much ...

You're pretty much comparing apples and oranges here - the 24-105 and 70-200 cover very different focal length ranges. You need to get a lens which covers the range of focal lengths you're going to need.
That obviously transforms the question into "what focal length do I need?" - and the answer to that depends on where you're going to be standing relative ...

What you'll need depends on what/how you plan to shoot, so waiting until you've had the camera for a while before thinking about buying more stuff for it is probably worth trying. But the things every digital shooter wants in addition to a body/lens or kit to get started is a relatively short list:
a computer of some kind. Because, otherwise, how are you ...

I have never tried the following trick myself, but it seems to be a simple and very cheap alternative to buying yet another lens (yes, it's even cheaper than the Helios 44-2):
Take a piece of light-proof paper, cut a hole in it.
Attach it to the lens hood and put hood on lens.
Swirly bokeh!
See http://samluyk.com/homemade-petzval-bokeh/ and ...

Condensation happens when the glass surface is significantly cooler than the temperature of the air hitting it.
Keeping the lens warm will prevent it misting up.
The comment you got asking you if your golf cart has air conditioning is relevant. If you're keeping the camera cool in between shots then this could contribute to the issue.
The greater the ...

It just happens that I made some test shots from another question which demonstrate this perfectly. I happen to have two Fujifilm lenses which have the same filter diameter and same bayonet hood mount — 23mm and 56mm. I took two test shots with the 23mm at the widest aperture (f/1.4), the first with the correct hood and the second with the 56mm's hood. The ...

Choosing the "next lens" you need should be based upon a particular need that your current lenses are not capable of meeting. So in order to answer the question you must first ask yourself, "What kind of shots do I want to take that I am not able to take now?" Only then can you answer the question, "What lens will allow me to take those shots?"

No, that's not generally true.
You might look at the DxOmark website for actual measurements on different lenses. Sharpness at different points across the field is one of the things measured in great detail, and graphed using color to indicate sharpness.
The sharpness varies not only with the specific lens, but varies with the zoom setting on zoom lenses, ...

The Opteka 6.5mm, Vivitar 7mm, Samyang/Rokinon/Bower/Pro-Optic/Phoenix/Walimex 8mm fisheye lens for dSLRs are all the same lens optically, and are all made by Samyang in Korea. The external differences are going to be in the casing and branding and (obviously) the flange focal distance for the specific mount. And between different mount versions, the ...

What you'll need will depend on what you want to shoot.
For portraits, you're gonna need ways to control the light. Just about everything you'll need to get started on lighting can be found on Strobist.
Landscapes can be improved with a good tripod. Get one that's good and stable because you don't want it falling down and breaking your camera. You'll also ...

It is pretty much impossible to build a lens with that wide of an aperture that is also so long. As mentioned, at 200mm the lens opening is 166mm at f1.2. This would be a physically immense lens, even more so a fi it's a zoom.
If we restrict ourselves to an aperture that's realistic (say f2.8), the only issue is that such a lens will need to be very, very ...

As agf1997 says, minimum focus distance for macro lenses varies somewhat with lens design, however as a rule of thumb you can expect the minimum focus distance (i.e. minimum working distance) to be roughly the same as the focal length of the lens (assuming 1:1 magnification here). Hence a 300mm lens with a whole lot of extension tubes (as a silly example to ...

This isn't a definative answer, but a speculation and something for you to check that's too long for a comment.
I'd be surprised if the lever had a visible effect. Try turning the focus and f-stop rings at the different positions and see if there is a difference in feel or motion range.
I have a pre-war Carl Zeiss Jena 50mm lens that has a separate ring ...

Lens Manufacturers such as Sigma and Tamron make the same lens for various different camera manufacturers, however, each lens mount is different and is dedicated exclusively to that camera manufacturer.
In other words, if you wish to purchase a Sigma 18-200mm Lens for a Canon, then you need to buy a Sigma Lens with a Canon Mount I.E- EF or EF-S Fit.
The ...

I've written one answer, but I'm going to try again with a different approach. Maybe you'll find this more helpful.
A prime lens — a lens with no zoom — has a certain fixed focal length. It always shows the same field of view. A zoom lens, on the other hand, can vary over a range of focal lengths, for wider and narrower fields of view.
When a zoom lens is ...

The question is one of comparing apples and oranges.
Take this analogy: We can determine how strong an animal is by how many times an it can lift/pull it's own weight. That scale suggests we should have been using ants instead of horses to pull carts and work the land... but we know that's not right because we can ride a horse but would definitely crush an ...

I used the following formula that helped me better understand the focal magnifications when I went to DSLR’s from digital compacts.
First, I decided what I would consider to be a perfect focal range to mimic the human eye. this was a little short of 50mm, but I settled on 50mm.
(please do note, that this is only a conceptual attempt to rationalise what ...